With Age, Kids Might Lose Ability to Figure out How Gadgets Work

Study: Preschoolers Better At Figuring Out How Gadgets Work Than College Students « CBS Atlanta.

Researchers at Berkeley claims to have found that little kids can figure out how to operate an unfamiliar gadget faster than college students can.  Their study pitted a group of 106 preschoolers between ages 4-5, against 170 college students.  They had to figure out how to get a box to light up and play music.  The little kids were more likely to ‘break the rules’ and put two objects into a single receptacle  to cause the gadget to light up.

Without information concerning the study design, it’s not possible to conclude much from this study, but the purported results are amusing.   The Berkeley researchers seem to have accidentally stumbled on something that this blogger has long suspected.  Modern educational methods seem to be impeding creativity and curtailing outside-the-box thinking.  Many kids are losing IQ points from exposure to some of today’s dumbed down “educators”.